Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Getti Boston, go my stan Oieda les tengo Algi and
mum portanteqs Banna represent that in elo Quenes travos. And
today we have someone that I am bringing you so
you learn from him who he is, what is all about,
(00:21):
what his proposal for the city of Boston is. And
you have to pay a lot of attention because he
is our representation in the House. He is going to
also fight for you. He is going to bring the
messages that we are concerned about and hopefully bring results
(00:42):
as well and solutions to the problems that we've experiencing.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Today.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
With us, we have our city Counselor at Large Will.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Good morning, Good afternoon. How's everyone doing well?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm doing great, I'm.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
What do you think of this?
Speaker 1 (00:59):
We just did a tour all over the iHeart building.
How was it? Isn't it like Impact Port.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
It's very back to It's beautiful.
Speaker 4 (01:07):
In fact, I think I'm starting I'm going to launch
my music career from here.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
Okay, now we know.
Speaker 3 (01:13):
Worldwide news, Yes, came in news.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Well where do you come from?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
So I'm from Boston. My well, my family, I come
from an immigrant family from Nigeria. My parents came here
as international students in the seventies, and my sister and
my brothers and I, we were all born here in Boston.
We grew up in Mission Hill in the eighties, you know,
the real Mission Hill, and it was Mission Hill a
very different place and what it looks like today, yes,
(01:41):
you know, and for good reason. But that's that's where
I come. I come from very humble beginnings, you know,
a large immigrant Nigerian family, a lot of love and
a lot of us.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yes, and your parents were born in Nigeria, were you correct?
Speaker 2 (01:58):
My parents, so they were the first generation to come here.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Wow, how was that for them? Do you know?
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Quite a change? Yes, quite a change.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
But it was also you know, America, especially in those days,
is the land of opportunity, you know, because Nigeria, as
much as it's a very you know, rich country, minerals
and resource wise, because of bad government, it's considered a
third world country and because of military rule and all
those kinds of things. In fact, one of the most
(02:29):
interesting things about my background is that my dad was
in a seminary before he met my mom, and he
was about fifteen years old during the Civil War when
they took him because you know, they didn't have enough
men to fight the war. They took him from his
parents and threw him into the war. It was really
a genocide against our people.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
How does that make you feel.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Appreciative?
Speaker 4 (02:54):
You know, because his experience and her experience, but more
so his in that respect shaped my life to who
I am today. You know, growing up in a Nigerian household,
it's like growing up in a military schools. Like it's
worse than West Point, and I'd like West Point, but
you know, it's a you know, it's it's extremely spiritual
and at the same time extremely a lot of discipline.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
How does that reflect on your upbringing and the way
that you're taking life and your career today.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Well, one, it makes you extremely formal, It makes you
very polite, it makes you very appreciative, and it makes
you work hard for everything you have. You know, one
thing that my parents put into us is letting us
know that, especially in the Nigerian household, is that failure
is not an option, so there's a drive to succeed.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
It's interesting, you know, failure is not an option, not
an option. But if you think about what success is,
don't you think that success is failure and on overall,
like you have to fail in order to learn, you
have to fail in order to become you know, smarter
and learn, you know advantage, I mean advance in your world.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
Yeah, you're right, you know, you see from the American paradigm,
that's very true. But when you come from a place
like Nigeria, what happens is that because of the lack
thereof of opportunity, failure is not an option.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
It can't be.
Speaker 4 (04:18):
This is why they pour so much attention into education
because it's seen as the golden.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Takes a lot of pressure.
Speaker 3 (04:25):
Oh my god, a lot of pressure.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And what happens if you failed, Like if your parents
were like, now you have a being instead of an
a but.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
It like this, you've got a first class ticket to
the resurrection.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Wow, So it was no I can imagine the strength right,
like the responsibility as a sun to make sure that
your parents are proud of you.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Absolutely, so that lives with you.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Yeah, because with us, you know, family legacy, family name
is everything. And so what happens, especially in the Nigerian families,
education is so big because one it's the one thing
we believe that will keep you from poverty. Two, it's
the golden ticket that can lift you in your family.
I mean since my mom and dad came here, they've
(05:11):
literally changed levels and pulled up their entire family, you understand.
So this is why education is so important and more important,
they also want you to you know, it's a bad
thing if you looked at has stupid excuse my friends,
And I know I probably shouldn't say it that way,
or uneducated, but to a degree of like not that
(05:35):
how can I put it? Because my grandparents didn't have
any formal education. They probably might they probably went to
the third grade, and that was that. They were farmers,
you understand. But you have an opportunity to succeed and
you're put into school.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
They want you to thrive.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And this is why usually and it's their hope, right
like this is you are our hope. So now the
responsibility only of not failing, but now like the responsibilit
of carrying the rest of the family or the rest
of the expectations, that must.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Be tough for you.
Speaker 4 (06:06):
Yeah, it is because their rationale is that they came
from nothing and they gave us a life that they
didn't have, that they could have only wished to have,
and it only happened by the grace of God. So
they're like, you have no reason to not make it.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
How was that impact impactful in your choice of career?
So were you aware of the expectations of your parents?
Did that have to do with your you know, legal background.
Speaker 4 (06:37):
Yes and no, because actually, what's very interesting is that
my mother wanted me to be a doctor. Most Nigerians
they want their kids to be doctors, engineers, nurses, lawyers
or pharmacists.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
That's it because back in the day, those were the
careers that actually took you to.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
The next exactly, you got it, exactly.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Now you have to sell on TikTok.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
You know, it's funny you say that because Christian Okoye,
who is a very famous football player, after he retired
from the NFL Nigerian kid went to work for the
Bill Clinton Foundation and you know, they interviewed him. They
I said, oh, you know, your families be very proud
of you. You know, you're a millionaire, you're successful. And
he goes, no, I'm the least successful person in my family.
And they said, well, why, he said, because everybody has
(07:23):
degrees and I don't have one. So I'm looked at
as actually not the most successful person, you know, so
they value the education over money, over anything.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
You understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
It's very similar to the Indian culture or the Hindus.
It's also like it's part of your stamp that your
family is still, right, It's like that comes within. It's
like if you're educated at home and you have that degree,
then that means that parents actually did a good job.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
That means they have they did a good job. They
raised you right, you know, you're a productive member of society. Oh,
you know all those things that they you know, the dream.
I guess that all parents usually want for their children.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
But what I can tell you is that and for
the people that are listening to us, what's important for
me more so than.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
A degree and your career and like what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Obviously, your path and what your accomplishments are is a value, right,
your values and what your upbringing was like. And that's
why I'm asking you these questions because I want our
audience to learn who you are really where your foundation is.
Because if we put trust on you, we know that
(08:35):
you are not going to fail because that's part of
your DNA, because you're going to fight and do the
best you can because you can't, you know, put your
parents in that situation either. So you know, people, when
you're choosing someone, you have to do it.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
With the right set of facts.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Now, if on top you add all the things that
you're big and that you're fighting for, then that's a
different you know, or an added value.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
I would say, so true. What brings you.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
From going to school, going into law and now a politician?
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Well, you know, the way I like to say it
is that I'm a humanitarian that's going into politics.
Speaker 3 (09:21):
You know.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
I've I mean, man, I've been blessed to have worked
for the last four mayors, from Tom Andino to presidential
mayor Tom School. Oh yeah, that's a school of its own.
Mayor Walsh, Mayor Janey, Mayor Woo, who I was with
until about twenty twenty two when I left to go
to the Boston Water and Sewer Department and be the
(09:44):
director of Health and Safety. I've ran several city departments.
I was the Commissioner of Housing for ten years and
two different capacities. I was the executive director of the
Obama Foundations. My brother's keeper, which was really cool.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I went to White House with my brothers, did you, Yes.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
I did.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
Ayanna Pressey's husband had that job before I took it over.
And I also built human Rights commission for the City
of Boston.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
That's very impressive. And where is Will's personal life?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
It sounds like very impressive when it comes to all
these achievements. But as a successful woman, I can tell
you like you take a toll because you have to
choose sometimes between either your career and like making and
living and supporting your kids or your family or whatever
it is that you're responsible for and your personal choices. Right,
(10:39):
and I see that you have been sacrificing and you
haven't said it.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Listen, people, he hasn't shared anything with.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Me, but I can tell because you seem like a
very straightforward, serious person.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
You know, when you get into this business, there's a
lot of sacrifice. But see, I think in order to
succeed in it, you you there has to be a
calling on your life because you you sacrifice a lot. Children, family,
sometimes spouses that kind of a thing. And even if
(11:13):
you have those things, they can suffer because they share
you with the public. You understand what I'm saying. And
when you're a public servant, you your life isn't yours,
you understand. And the only way at least in my opinion,
to deal with something like that is you. It has
to be a calling. You have to be able to
(11:33):
touch lives, You have to be able to make a difference.
And I also believe you have to have a lot
of God in you. You know, I am a very
god fearing person. You know, I believe in God with
all my heart. And I believe and I'm Nigerian too,
so you know, those those things come together. It's almost
you know, you know, you can't have one without the other.
(11:55):
But the point, very simply is that you sacrifice so
much of your self that it's got to be something
that drives you more.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Than you what's your calling people?
Speaker 4 (12:06):
I think my calling has always been to serve people,
to help people. I get an adrenaline rush out of that.
I enjoy it more than anything else that I do
my life. You know, like I said, I am a humanitarian,
so I have almost a complex. I have a save
the world type of attitude. You know, every person who
(12:29):
has a problem like, oh my God, let me see
how I can help you.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
You know, you're like my mother.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
I was just talking to my mother because when I
tell her, yes, today she's turning eighty years.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Old, Happy birthday tomorrow, thank you.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
But when I tell her, like I have an issue
or a problem, she will try to solve it right away.
I'm like, and next time, Mommy, when I tell you
that I have something going on, it's not so youally
becomes your problem.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
I'm just sharing what I have. But is that right exactly?
Speaker 4 (12:58):
Yeah? That that you know that, that's certainly me. I
am an EmPATH. I feel other people's pain, you know.
And I'm going to tell you this of you good question. Well,
my family, my friends, you know they I'm blessed an
amazing family. You know, a lot of love in my family.
(13:25):
But I will tell you this that when you're doing
this kind of work, you geez, I'm trying to figure
out the best way to say it. Well, well, we
already covered the sacrifice part. But you feel a lot
for people.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
What are those tools and resources in your race? Like,
what are you bringing to the table for the city
of Boston?
Speaker 4 (13:49):
Thank you that that's a really good question for me.
What I'm bringing to this city council race more than
any other candidate, is a wealth of knowledge and experience,
there's no in this race, and there's no disrespect to
anybody that's currently in this race who has my years
of experience. No one who's currently on a council or
who's running you know that has my years of experience,
(14:11):
who's served all four mayors like I have, or has
even held the positions that I've held. You know, I
have learned from the best, and I've learned what mistakes
they made and what to do and what not to do.
And by mistakes, I just mean like I learned the
things that we tried.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
Earlier on Well, technically it wasn't me. I I wasn't
leading this ship. But yeah, but you know something, You're right.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
Everybody fails in life, and you're right, it's part of success,
you know, as long as you get up.
Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, as long as you get up.
Speaker 4 (14:42):
There's a portion of the Bible that says seven times fallen,
eight times risen. You understand what I'm saying. So, yeah,
we're all gonna fall away. Human for crying out loud,
you know, I'm not infallible, you know what I mean,
that's not at all human. But going into this race,
how is the biggest crisis, the number one crisis facing
(15:03):
the city.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
Of Boston part of it too, So you know it
from the inside.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
From the inside out, and there's no one in this.
You know, everybody in the States talking about affordable housing,
affordable house, affordable housing. Yeah, that's part of the issue,
but what they're forgetting the bigger part of the issue
is workforce housing. See, the problem with affordable housing is
that you got to be poor to get into it,
and you got to be poor to keep it. So
(15:27):
if you make five two three thousand dollars more, maybe
get a promotion at work. Now your housing is in jeopardy.
People have to make the decision do I take this
promotion or do I not?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
So I can keep it.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Interesting that you're saying that, because and those money is here,
and she knows me for many, many years, and she
can attest to this for the listeners who don't know
a lot of my past. But you know, I was
homeless at some point after my divorce, and I was
in that situation that you're explaining, and I wanted to
be better. I wanted to get out of, you know,
(16:02):
the situation where I was, and it was very hard
because I was in that threshold of like if you
make one dollar more.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
We can't help you.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
I was like, but I don't want you to help
me with money or like stamp food stamps. I want
to move on, like I want to get out of here.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
And that was.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
The most challenging part for me because either I was
or you know, in that spot where you don't fit.
There's not a middle ground, right, It's either you're in
the one percent or you're in the bottom.
Speaker 3 (16:31):
That's absolutely true.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
Yeah, yeah, we lived it together, you know, and you
know these a lot of our housing laws are very intiquated.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
They will put together in the seventies when society was very,
very different, and they haven't changed since, and they're holding
people back. That's the first thing. The second thing is
workforce housing is what we need. So we I was
blessed to co author with a bunch of folks something
called the Annuncis of Impediments to Fair Housing in the
(17:04):
City of Boston, and we wrote housing legislation. But we
were the first office to get this done for the
Biden Harris administration. And what it did is it made
us look at all the things that are roadblocks to
housing in the City of Boston, from transportation, education, to jobs,
to healthcare. You know, all of those things are in
a polygamous from relationship marriage with housing. Housing affects all
(17:27):
of that. Yeah, of course you see now, on its face,
housing is not very sexy. Most people don't think they
know about and they don't. It's not til you get
into the weeds of it you realize what it affects
and how it really affects all those aspects of your life.
That being said by building, workforce, housing, or let me
back up for a moment. The average person in Boston
makes between fifty nine and sixty one thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yet that's it, It's not even like a no.
Speaker 4 (17:54):
And you know what happened is we got lumped in
with Newton, Wellesley, Brookline with the average person in those
cities and towns makes one hundred and twenty five thousand
dollars a year. And this is just average, I'm talking
about average Joe. Because of that, you know, that's what
they call metro Boston even you know the surrounding you know,
suburban neighborhoods or what have you. So because of that,
(18:16):
we get lumped in with them, and we get these
ridiculous what they call ami area medium income You know,
Boston first of all, can set its own. It doesn't
have to follow that. It can set its own, which
no one is talking about. The second thing is because
of the average person makes anywhere between fifty nine and
sixty one thousand dollars. By building workforce housing, nobody is
(18:36):
supposed to pay more than twenty or thirty percent of
their income for housing. Meaning you can build housing that
a person can get into that has a home, that
has an income of anywhere from sixty to two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, and they will never pay more
than thirty percent of their income. What's currently happening is
(18:57):
that you have people who are paying now sixty five
to seventy percent of their income to live, so basically
they're living only to work.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah, so people are struggling. I know, I know, I know,
so you know.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
I think I think with this, what you are sparking
in my brain right now is that we need to
do some sort of educational program or class or workshop
or something that we can actually share this information because
people don't know about it. And I wish we had
(19:32):
more time to spend, you know, on all these details,
but I want you to share also what you have
for massive casts.
Speaker 4 (19:40):
Oh yeah, massive cast, So for mass and casts, very
simply and very quickly, my idea is doing what we
call bringing the mercy ships. COVID gave us this idea,
so basically the mercy ships back in the day.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
If you think about toughs, yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:56):
Yeah, well exactly, the hospital was exactly check this out
and your one hundred percent correct. Check this out, and
we did it with COVID. Basically, the Mercy ship is
mass general and bring them women's hospital on a cruise line,
full scale hospital. We use it during wartime. We send
it to the soldiers if they're in Afghanistan or whatever,
because it's a full scale hospital. It's just on a
(20:18):
cruise line inder stand hospital, beds, emergency room or operating room.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
Everything.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
We can take these folks. Because to rebuild Long Island
and rebuild the bridge, it's going to cost upwards millions
and close about a billion dollars honestly, and where we
already aren't enough debt as a city, so we don't
need to do that, and we're in some pretty difficult
economic times. So by employing the Mercy ships, you can
(20:45):
put people on it, you can park it by black
fan Paar down in the harbor. Give them the respect
and dignity deserve. To cure them. You know you could,
and you can confine them for one hundred and eighty days.
You can enforce the drug law. The drug law is
three ninety four c or Section thirty five, which says,
if anybody is caught using drugs, not even doing I mean,
(21:08):
excuse you, not even selling, but just using drugs, they
have the option of going to arraignment or treatment. If
you go to treatment, there is no record. We can
force them into treatment, there's no criminal record. Can fine
them for ninety days for treatment. Use the drug called vitriol.
The Sheriff's Apartment is currently using it. What vitriol does
is it breaks the addiction, the neurons that cause you
(21:31):
to have the addiction. It kills it, so the addiction
goes away immediately or you know, relatively fast, probably right. No,
no withdraws this drug. And the thing is the Sheriff's
Apartment has a one hundred to one hundred success rate.
Speaker 3 (21:46):
No one is even talking about this.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
You understand what I'm saying. You can use this drug,
treat them. After you've done treating them, give them the therapy.
They need to rehabilitate them. Now, give them the draw chaining,
the draw training. They need to boot them into. Bring
them back into the workforce because our workforce is also struggling.
There's a major depletion happening. The baby boomers are all leaving, retiring,
(22:12):
some are passing away. So people are leaving. We need
to backfill the workforce. These are human lives that can
easily do that, and we can treat them.
Speaker 1 (22:23):
I love embarrassing all these projects. Will you have such
an intense work ahead of you. I know it's not
going to be easy. I am so grateful that you
shared this with us today.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Where can we vote for you? Like, where in the
ballot are you?
Speaker 4 (22:42):
I'm number four on the ballot and anyone can check
me out at Wilfoboston dot com or will for Boston
on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Can we you know, ask our listeners if they believe
in you, if they read about you, how they can
they donate?
Speaker 2 (22:56):
Can they donate?
Speaker 4 (22:56):
Yeah, if they go on a website and donate on
to the web site excuse me on the website. From there,
it's all on act Blue, so they can they can
go on OPCF and check it out and get a
tax return and all that they can see. They can
track the money themselves, so it's not like it's going
to mills pocket.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I am very happy to have learned more about your
personal life, your values, the where you're standing, you know,
as far as like your commitment to the city to
also as a community, the diversity, and we didn't even
touch the topic on immigration, which I know that you're
very poor for our diverse cultural backgrounds and you know
(23:38):
because we all come from there.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
But I appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Well, thank you so much, so much, thank you for
having me.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
And you know that this is your house. Get Pasa
Boston is willing and very excited to bring and educate
our community. Yellows at toss candidat. Do you have to
educate yourselves, learn about them, see what you're voting for
or and don't forget.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
You have to go and.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Vote because I can tell you all these stories, but
if you don't take action, things are going to remain
the same.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
You have to go and get out there vote. There's
early voting.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
We are going to have another session just about how
to vote what does that mean? But will thank you
so much again, for coming and Sha thank you.
Speaker 4 (24:20):
And you know, if it doesn't work out, I'm launching
my music career for here. I start up at that
band first. Yeah, but I'm going to launch at the
band first, and for a little smart I'm going to
launch by an ato band.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
We're going to work this all out. You know what
I say.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
You have to download that I heard app and pre
select cap Possibles, and as your favorite podcast, don't forget
to share this story and any of the other great
ideas that you have with us and with.
Speaker 2 (24:58):
The people that you love. See you next week.